Thursday, January 31, 2013

Day One - On My Way to South Africa

My trip to South Africa began with a flight delay while we waited for the plane to de-ice. To tell the truth, my journey began months before this, but now the planning is all in motion and after a 4.30am alarm (much to the chagrin of the dogs who will need to get used to early morning wake-up calls while I’m away), I found myself stuck on a plane that did not depart until one hour later than planned. An extra hour in bed would have been nice. It seems once the plane got us on board, it did not want to let us off; upon arrival in Atlanta, there was a mechanical malfunction with the jetway. Since I had the entire day to spend here, I was much less upset by the delay than the remaining passengers, most of whom risked missing their connecting flight to Costa Rica. As I listened to people complain about the extra baggage charges for their 45 lb suitcases, I wondered why I had been concerned about my little 20lb backpack. Monkeying around in South Africa does not require much in the way of fancy shoes or make up. A few pairs of adventure pants, t-shirts, and a light fleece and I am good to go.

Usually, my time in Atlanta airport is limited to dashing from one gate to the next, so having some time to spend here in Terminal F, it is actually a very nice airport (and thankfully without Detroit’s psychedelic light show and welcome song!)